Alienware Drops Riot as Esports Sponsor

Riot Games has been in a lot of trouble over the years — starting with Kotaku’s report on the toxic masculinity of their bro culture, continuing with lawsuits, claims of sexual harassment, and gender discrimination suits — and recently, Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent was accused of sexual abuse as well, and an investigation is currently ongoing to see if these claims have any water… or if they can just be ignored because consequences don’t exist for the rich and powerful. Case in point: Ubisoft.

In any case, there have at least been consequences in one regard: after years of putting up with the toxicity that’s impossibly tied to the Riot Games brand, Alienware has decided to cut ties with Riot Games and the esports they used to sponsor, and according to a report by Dot Esports, this is directly because of the investigations over Nicolo Laurent. We don’t actually know if that’s the case, but the fact that Alienware or its logo is no longer showing up on LCS streams is certainly proof, at least, that something is wrong.

Riot Games has refused to comment, and says their negotiations with Alienware are both ongoing and confidential. Which means that there’s not actually a whole lot else to say. We don’t really need to congratulate Alienware or anything, because they sort of missed the goodwill window by three-something years. And Riot Games… well, it’s a scummy company, but it’s also shown signs of growth, so… what’s there to say?